From Renter to Owner: How a Pilot Purchased a Cessna with Help from AOPA Finance
27th May 2025
By AOPA Finance Team
Jason Krajewski is a 300-hour private pilot, living in Portland, Oregon, who is in the process of completing his instrument rating. He recently bought a 1976 Cessna 177 B. We sat down to talk to him about what inspired him to make the purchase and his experience using AOPA Finance.
Krajewski: I did a lot of renting from my local home base. I hadn’t really intended to do it—it was never on my radar until about six months ago when I started to calculate what I was paying just to fly around the Pacific Northwest in rental planes. Then I started thinking about this 50th birthday cross-country trip I wanted to make back to Wisconsin. Finally, I got a little inspired by one of my friends here at work. He had a Cardinal, and he took me up five or six years ago. He got me leaning towards Cardinals.
I was looking for something that was IFR-ready so I didn’t have to do any upgrades. I had several Cardinals I was looking at from an equipment, quality, and cost perspective. But this tail number ended in JK, which actually is the initials for my first and last name, and I said, “Okay, I think I need to look at this one a little bit more.”
I’ll be honest, I didn’t know how to buy an airplane. I get AOPA’s Pilot magazine every month, being a member, and I’m a pretty religious reader of the articles online. I thought, “Hey, I feel connected to AOPA. I really like what they do as an organization.”
So, I just reached out and said, “This is what I’m interested in. What do I do?” It kind of rolled from there. It was really, really a great experience, to be honest. I would have struggled to do it without them.
They put me in contact with the lender. They facilitated all my lending when I didn’t immediately have an escrow service available. Honestly, I still don’t even know how I bought a house, but this is somewhat similar. They connected me with the right escrow people, and while each of these steps was progressing, they were checking in. I felt like I had an agent working with me.
AOPA’s portal was pretty straightforward, getting all the documents and submitting them. Overall, I had a really great experience. I may be a little bit biased because I didn’t know a lot, and AOPA really helped me. They laid out clearly what it was I was going to have to do.
If I did have a question, I wasn’t afraid to reach out about something that maybe was not 100% in their wheelhouse for answering. I couldn’t have imagined it being easier without their support.
Great advice. Great rates. Helpful and responsive reps you can trust. Three good reasons to turn to AOPA Finance when you are buying or refinancing an airplane. If you need a dependable source of financing with people who are on your side, just call 800.62.PLANE (800.627.5263), or click here to request a quote.
AOPA Finance Team
Knowledgeable and friendly aircraft finance professionals you can trust to find the best terms for your financing needs. Our goal is to make aircraft ownership more affordable and accessible to pilots.